Cooling tower



H. N. WADE COOLING TOWER Jan. I, 1935.

Filed March 24, 1935 FIGJ Anw,

HENRY N. WADE VEA/TOR C mi FIG. 2

' spindrift toleave the tower.

through the openings 16 is directed against the inside ofA the enclosingwall, which acts as an efcient mistextractor, returning the spray tothe'catch basin and permitting only the finest As the Venclosing wallvto Windward of the tower breaks the force of the wind and deilects itupwardly, this tower may be operating with the trap doors wide open atsuch wind velocities as would cause large quantities of water tobeflo'stfrom the ordinary ventilated or louvre type of the latter indicatingwind movement. tiveness of the aspiration indicated bythe arrows I'B---Bis increased by increasing 'the relative height of the enclosing walls17. I `l IC--li/hen the wind increases ,to a velocity sunlcient to.prevent the enclosure 17 from returning all the spray to the catchbasin, the trap' doors 18 maybe utilized to reduceits effects. Apart ofthe total number of doors either to Windward or to leeward of the towermay be entirely closed, or all' of the doors to leeward may be partiallyclosed, thus reducing the effective area of the apparatus. When the windreachesl the velocity of a gale, a conditionunderfwhich' the ordinarytypes of towerare often/completely deprived of water,` the traps onthe'windward` side maybe entirely closed 'o r (provided theyare'suspended from-the tower as shown in the gures) they may be retainedin a slightlyiopenedposition on the windwardsideand closed on theopposite side, thus temporarily reversing the direction of air ilowthrough the tower.

' D--Under conditions of very low air temperature, when towers ofconventional `construction oftenbecome inoperative by reason ofaccumulaytio'nof ice, the 'trap-doors may be closed to any desiredextent, in either ofthe manners above described, anda temperature abovethe freezing pointV thus Ymaintained within thetowerand in thecatc'hbasin f- Inibrief, by providing for a normal downward I lmovement ofair, which may be reversed at will luy-providingy a solid,wind-excluding vwall rfor the tower proper; by providing aspray-retaining and wind-delecting wall or enclosure around the lowerairopenings and by providing means for controlling the effective area andthe direction of such openings, Iam enabledv to so control the aircurrents as to produce themost desirable operating condition'sunder allexternal conditions -of wind velocity andair temperature. "Iheseim-'pro'vements I desire to claim as broadly as the state 4of the art willpermit. Y

While I' havey shown and described this appa- 'Vratus in aconventionaland preferred formjas a 'rectangle having greater lengththan width and -with the air openings and enclosing walls located onboth of the longer sides, it will be understood that this showing isillustrativeY only and that the apparatus may be o ffany form anddimensions; that the kair openings and the optional enclosing walls maybe on one or more sides, and that the doors 18 may be hinged to swing ineither direction.

It is common practice to 'utilize towers of this general character forthe direct cooling of hot gases or vapors in pipe coils or coolingsections placed in the lower portion of the tower. My improved towerV isfullyhadaptedto such use but as this is no part of the present inventionI do not describe or show such cooling means. It should be stated,however, that when such cooling means are placed in my improved towerthey should be located substantially below the air openings 16 so Y asnot to obstruct the free passage of air through tower. Under the abovedescrita-5d con'iitions the f courses of the air currents are asindicatedgby the arrows A-A, B--B and C- C of Figure 2,` The eiec-Atrays inthe tower, both because such trays too 'Iheoperating methodhere described, of inducing a downward flow of air through awind-excluding tower, lis incompatible with the use of drip muchobstruct the passage of a downward air current through the towerfandbecausev a mere drip. of Lwater does' not supply the energy required toinduce .the downward flow. The water must be projected downwardly,r as.ne streams or sprays, withconsiderable force.

In the attached claims, when I make use of the term wind-excluding.asreferring to the tower structure and the walls enclosing the openings,I would be understoodto mean such degree of wind exclusion as would beproduced, for example, by they usev` of ordinaryboards, laid flat andedge to edge, and not necessarily -tovv such degree oftightnessaszwouldfollow the use'of tongue and groove lumber or metallicsheets. .5 Y

1. The method'ofcooling water which comprises: downwardly projectingvsupplies of said water within an unimpededenclosure of space andthereby' inducing downward movement of a column of` atmospheric airthrough said enclosure and cooling said water byevaporation of a portionthereof; 'separating said water from said air; discharging saidY aircolumn from the lower portion oisaid enclosure intothe. atmosphere undersuch conditions that the return of said column to said enclosure issubstantially prevented; substantially excluding extraneous'aircurrentsfrom interference with said downwardly moving air column, and soregulatingsaid downward flow of Aair'as to maintain a substantiallyconstant desired temperature within said yspace under varyingatmospheric conditions. 1

i 2. A water-cooling tower, comprising: a vertical, hollow, upwardlyopen and substantially wind excluding structure of rectangular'form, twoopposedsld'es of .saidstructure being provided in their lower portionswith openings forthe passage of air; substantially wind-excluding wallsenclosing spaces surrounding said lower openings, said spacesbeingupwardly open; means for partially or entirely closing said lastnamed upward openings "to regulate or prevent the passage of airtherethrough; means adjacent' the upper open end of saidstructure for'subdividing and downwardly4 projecting suppliesofwater to: be cooled,andaJ catch-basin beneath `said structure and the spaces enclosed bysaidwalls.' y

